


the stomach of kronos

by felinedetached



Series: theioan stories (stories of the gods) [2]
Category: Greek and Roman Mythology
Genre: Gen, apparently i write for greek mythology now, enjoy this, please
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2018-02-17
Packaged: 2019-03-19 17:36:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13709355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/felinedetached/pseuds/felinedetached
Summary: They lived in their father's stomach for most of their lives, but they would overthrow him in the end - after all, Gaia foretold it.





	the stomach of kronos

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Gods & Monsters](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10669833) by [ShanaStoryteller](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShanaStoryteller/pseuds/ShanaStoryteller). 



Rhea, mother of gods, felt life growing in her stomach and she feared. **  
**

These beings would not be like her, would not be like their father. With this child’s power, Kronos’ fear, and Kronos’ never-ending hunger for power, her children would not last long.

She knew this, but when he took her first child from her, it hurt all the same.

~~°0°~~

Hestia fell first, living the first years of her life alone in a hostile environment. But Hestia is a goddess - she is the second-oldest, in fact, Aphrodite the only one born before her - and she is the goddess of hearth and home.

Hestia was born into a hostile environment, but home cannot be quenched that easy. She made herself, deep within her father’s stomach, built herself from the ground up and created a safe space for her siblings when they arrived.

The hearth and home protects; and its goddess does too.

~~°0°~~

Hera was born next, and when she landed she had someone to care for her. Hestia raised her younger sister, ensured that she did not die in the depths of their father’s stomach.

She did not make herself - Hestia made her. Hearth and home became hearth, home and family, and the two goddesses vowed together that they would protect their siblings from all harm.

Mothers protect, after all, and the goddess of family has always been overly maternal.

~~°0°~~

Demeter was third, a fussy baby. Kronos ate only meat, so they had only meat to eat themselves and to feed the child. She was revolted by it, but her sisters did the best they could for her.

Demeter made herself in that cave (although she couldn’t have done it without the help of her family, without Hestia and without Hera), made herself from the scraps of meat and bone they were thrown.

The goddess Demeter rejected what she had been given her whole life, and became the goddess of harvest.

~~°0°~~

Poseidon was the fourth-born to Rhea, the fourth in this small family created in the gut of a monster, but he was the first son. Hera cooed over him as Hestia cradled him in her arms, while Demeter gathered all the food she could find. Four now lived in the stomach of Kronos, and if he did not start eating more, they would starve.

Hestia gave the boy her servings, watched as he grew up big and strong. Poseidon was made from the kindness of his sisters, and he never chose a domain within his father’s stomach.

“Nothing calls to me,” he told Hera when she asked.

~~°0°~~

Hades was fifth born to Rhea, the second boy, and the last child to be swallowed (although neither he nor his siblings would know that). He was a quiet child, content with both his surroundings and his family, less prone to violence than Poseidon or Demeter.

Hera loved him. If she ever had a child, she hoped with all her heart that he would be like her youngest brother, because he was an angel. Even grown he was kind; charming; the kind of man she’d like to marry someday - if they ever got out of their father’s stomach, of course.

Hades did not make himself either; and nor was he made.

~~°0°~~

The next child was no child but a rock, and the once-children gathered around it in excitement.

“Could it be?” Poseidon asks. Out of all of them, he wishes the most to be free.

“Rhea has done it,” Hera proclaims, face grim, “I hope he does not realise.”

“He swallowed the rock,” Hades points out, “he is not intelligent enough to do so.”

Hestia laughs, her voice ringing light and airy.

“We will be free,” she tells them, wistful. She has, after all, resided in the darkness of their father’s stomach for far longer than any other.

“Free,” Demeter repeats, and then she laughs too. Soon, all five are cheerily chatting away, realising that they would soon be free from this prison.

~~°0°~~

Zeus is the sixth-born of Rhea, her third son, and the first child to escape the fate the other five had suffered.

“If they are alive,” Rhea begs, “save them.”

“Of course, mother,” Zeus replies and does not see her again.

He is raised by wood nymphs, on an island far from where Kronos resides. They train him to fight and to rule, and he makes himself free from the chains of those who came before him.

Zeus becomes god of the sky; god of lightning and thunder, and he is the only child of Rhea with the ability to save her from her husband.

~~°0°~~

It is years and years later that the plan started with the birth of Zeus came to its finale.

“This potion will make you immortal, my lord,” Zeus says, holding a goblet up to his father’s mouth. (He had posed as a wine-bearer, patient in a way no one would ever see again from the soon-to-be King.) His father, gullible as he is, believes the man he thinks is a faithful servant.

He throws up less than an hour later, and he does not stop.

~~°0°~~

There is a stirring, in the bowels of their father, where they live in an almost-harmony. That stirring became a flood, until they were expelled from what had been their life.

~~°0°~~

Hestia emerges from her father’s mouth with fire in her eyes and bile in her hair. She takes her brother’s hand, pulls him into a hug.

“You saved us,” she whispers in his ear, “thank you.”

~~°0°~~

Hera emerges perfect, untouched by the gunk and other unsavoury fluids expelled with her. She ignores her sister, walks straight to the man she has never seen in her life.

When she reaches him, she drags a hand down his chest, leans in, and whispers “If there is anything I can do to thank you…”

~~°0°~~

Demeter emerges, and she breathes in the air, spins around, and flower petals fall on her like rain. She is finally in her element, finally able to live in a world with more than her siblings and the decomposing remains of their father’s meals.

She does not thank her brother.

~~°0°~~

Poseidon emerges and looks around curiously, still unsure of his place and his domain. He will find it soon enough, but not here, and not now.

“You are our brother?” he asks Zeus, and does not wait for a reply before saying, “thank you.”

~~°0°~~

Hades is the last to arrive, death and horror in his eyes. He lived there for the least time out of all of them, but it affected him the most, because he could see their despair.

“You saved my siblings,” he says to Zeus, “and for that I thank you.”

~~°0°~~

They take their father, still weak from the effort it took to expel five fully-grown gods, and they cut him into pieces. Their mother they do nothing to, leaving her to live out her days in exile (she may have birthed them, but she is still a monster, and they are still gods).

They cast their fathers remains into the deepest pits of Tartarus, and Hades becomes the god of the Underworld and the guardian of their father’s jail.

The sea is left to Poseidon, as is Amphitrite, and she strikes a hard deal for her hand and her power.

Their father’s siblings gather, plan to overthrow them and kill them, and a war rages for years, but they emerge victorious - the six original gods of Olympus (seven, really, Aphrodite helped - but no one talks about that; she is only the goddess of love, after all).

There are six gods on thrones, and they are the gods that began the new age.

Long live the gods of Olympus.

**Author's Note:**

> come yell at me on tumblr [@faeflowerfeline](https://faeflowerfeline.tumblr.com/)


End file.
